Park and don’t pay at Thane parking plaza till tender process is complete
The first floor of the parking plaza outside Thane railway station will be made used for parking two-wheelers free of charge till the tender process is complete.
The railways will start charging after the tender on the contract for the parking space gets a response.
The two-storey parking plaza outside the Thane railway station has space for 1,000 two-wheelers and 50 four-wheelers.
The railways will start charging for parking of vehicles after it gets a contract to run the parking space.
“The first floor of the parking plaza will be given for only two-wheelers. Once the contract is given to a private agency, vehicles will be charged for parking,” said an official from Thane railway station.
“The decision has been taken to curb congestion on the roads outside the station. However, railways will not be responsible for any damage to vehicles parked on the first floor. One can park their two-wheelers on the first floor at their own risk,” said the official.
The multi-storey parking plaza at Thane station was proposed by Central Railway (CR) in 2015. It was supposed to be ready by 2017 but it has been stalled because of lack of funds.
“The work was on hold due to various reasons. However, construction has been sped up for the past 18 months,” said another railway official from Thane.
The parking plaza is coming up near platform number 1 of Thane railway station. The ground floor was ready last year and the contract was allotted to a private agency for pay-and-park facility.
After the first floor of the plaza was ready, tender was floated to allot the space for pay-and-park system.
“Tender has been floated and is expected to be finalised soon. The ground and first floor of the plaza will be allotted for parking which can accommodate 50 four-wheelers,” said the official.
According to officials, the second floor of the plaza will give 50 railway employees to park their vehicles. The same floor will also have two chambers for Government Railway Police and Railway Protection Force of Thane station.
“As the railway office building on platform number 2 at Thane railway station is more than 60 years old, the office will be shifted to the second floor of the parking plaza near the station. The construction of the second floor of the plaza will take six months,” said a railway official.
With hardly any space in the city for parking, commuters are happy with the railways giving them extra space .
“It’s a good initiative that they have allotted the space for free, even though it is temporary. However, the railways should soon hand over the facility to contractors and charge for parking. Free parking could lead to lack of security,” said Nandkumar Deshmukh, president of Railway Passengers’ Association, Thane.
The road outside the station is congested and people park randomly. “The railways should put up a the board near the station area so that more motorists can avail of the facility. This will curb haphazard parking of vehicles near the station area and make the area less congested,” said Nishant Bhoir, 32, a resident of Gaondevi, Thane.